build your own kitchen...

For many home wood-workers, outfitting akitchen with hand-

crafted cabinets is the dreamproject. Who hasn’t lookedat stock cabinets built withparticleboard, hotmelt glueand staples and thought, “Icould build something awhole lot better than thisfor half the money.”

And they’re r ight. By

building your own cabinets,you can upgrade materialsand construction methods.You’re also not locked into“stock” sizes. The style,look, finish, and features arecompletely up to you.

If you think about it, cab-inets are just a bunch ofboxes. The only real chal-lenge is the size of such aproject. And that’s manage-

able as long as you knowwhere to get started andhow to proceed.

In the following pages,we’ll walk you through howwe built these cabinets andhow they compare withstock cabinets purchasedfrom a home center. Andhopefully inspire you toconsider building yourown.

If you’ve dreamed of building a kitchen full of cabinets, stop dreaming and start building.Here’s what you need to know to get custom results for half what stock cabinets cost.

RAISED PANELS BEVELED GLASS 3/8" INSET DRAWERSLIGHTED VALANCE

Build Your Own Kitchen Cabinets

Plans N O Ww w w . p l a n s n o w . c o m

®

CUSTOM HARDWARECUTTING BOARD

From Workbench Magazine ©2002 August Home Publishing.One copy permitted for personal use. Other copies prohibited. All rights reserved.

96"36"

54 "#/454 "#/4

145 "!/2

45"

Allow 36" - 48" inches of openaccess space between banks of cabinetsor between cabinets and a work island.

CABINET AREA DIMENSIONS

BUY OR BUILD?Unless you’re independently wealthy,there’s a limit on how much you canspend for store-bought (stock) cabi-nets.The typical approach is to pickout what you like, then whittle awayat the extras to stay within budget.

But suppose you could spend thatsame amount on materials. By dis-counting the labor (after all, this istime spent in the shop), you can keepsome of those extras and upgrade thematerials and improve the quality. Ifound this out first-hand with thiskitchen project.

Because kitchen configurationscan vary so greatly, I built one basicwall of cabinets shown above. Thewall measures just over 12 feet longand has a double-hung window

centered within the space. I wantedthe sink to be located directlyunderneath the window. Since thereisn’t a soffit in this room, I could useextra-tall (42") wall-hung cabinets.

To help justify building the cabi-nets, I decided to do a little compar-ison shopping.So I took the layout toa local home center and asked themto fill the space with stock cabinets.The stock cabinets I selected were araised-panel style in red oak that fellslightly above mid-range in price.

(See the description and photo ofthese cabinets at the bottom of thenext page).

To outfit the kitchen with thesebasic, no-frill oak cabinets (see thenext page), the estimated cost was$2,553.When I asked them to pricethe same set-up in cherry, it jumpedto $3,403. Shipping to our door wasanother $110.

By contrast, materials for thecherry cabinets I built cost less than$1,400. And my design included a

24"

Window DishwasherSink

145 "!/2

Obviously, you can’t just start buildingcabinets without extensive planning.While we don’t have room to addressthose issues here, we can steer you in theright direction.

Some of the best information on kitchenlayout and design that I found was pub-lished by kitchen cabinet manufacturers.The free brochures at home centers containchecklists of what to consider: appliancesizes, utility locations, and the types of activ-

ities and features that are important to you.They provide grids for laying out thekitchen and are excellent sources for ideason cabinet styles and layouts.

For additional reading, check outKitchens That Work: A Practical Guide toCreating a Great Kitchen by Martin andRichard Edic (Taunton, 1999), and BuildingTraditional Kitchen Cabinets by Jim Tolpin(Taunton, 1994). Check your library orcontact Taunton Press at (800) 477-8727.

FLOOR PLAN

PLANNING AND IDEAS

From Workbench Magazine ©2002 August Home Publishing.PlansNOW.com All rights reserved.

20"-deep above-counter pantryunit with a built-in cutting boardand a knife rack (see page 12). Sucha unit wasn’t available in stock cabi-netry except as a 24"-deep, full-height pantry unit that over-whelmed the small space.

In fact, the cost was so far belowstock cabinets I was able to add in afew more extras. One particularlynice touch was the display cabinetwith beveled glass in both the doorand the exposed side. The cabinetsalso feature custom frame-and-panel cabinet ends and a cove mold-ing along the ceiling.

MATERIAL CONSIDERATIONSIf you stop by any home center youcan find stock cabinets in oak,maple, cherry, hickory, pine, andbirch. In most cases, at least the faceframes, doors, and drawer fronts willbe solid wood.

If you build your own cabinets,you’re not limited to these materials(see some other options top right).

Another advantage is being ableto select and match grain patternand color. Manufacturers can’t affordto spend time doing this. Instead,grain patterns are random and theyuse a toner to give the wood a uni-form color and appearance.

The materials used commerciallyfor cabinet carcases, drawer boxes,shelves, and interior divider panelscan vary widely. Usually, at least someof these parts are made from vinyl-covered particleboard or melamine.

Because my cabinet projectrequired relatively small quantitiesof material for these parts, the total

cost difference to upgrade from ½"-thick melamine to ¾" veneer ply-wood was fairly insignificant.

RAISED PANEL SUBSTITUTESI decided to build these cabinetsusing raised panels.And I’ll admit itadded both time and cost to glue upsolid wood panels, but I thought itwas worth it.

A quicker, less expensive optionis to build flat panel doors using ¼"veneer plywood (see the top photoat right).

If painted cabinets will work inyour kitchen, you might want toconsider milling the raised panels inmedium density fiberboard (MDF)and building the rails and stiles inpoplar. Inexpensive MDF offers theadded advantage of being stable,compared to the expansion andcontraction of solid wood panels.

SHOP-MADE MATERIAL COSTS:STOCK CABINET COSTS: (Raised-panel red oak)

(2) Wall Cabinets (12"D x 27"W x 42"H) $475.54

(2) Wall Cabinets (12"D x 30"W x 42"H) 492.90

(1) Three-drwr. Unit (12"D x 30"W x 18"H) 301.94

(1) Base w/Pots/Pans Drwr. (24"D x 30" W) 377.27

(1) Base w/Trays (24"D x 36"W) 380.99

(1) Base w/4 Drwr. (24"D x 18"W) 194.37

(1) Sink Base (24"D x 42"W) 221.34

(1) Scalloped Valance 49.60

(1) 3"-Wide Base Filler 17.67

(1) 3"-Wide Wall Filler 26.66

(2) Matching Toe kick Panels 14.88

TOTAL $2,553.16

4/4 Cherry - 100 bd. ft @ $4.95/bd. ft. $495.00(Face frames, doors, drawer fronts, toekicks)

4/4 Birch - 30 bd. ft @ $2.69/bd. ft. 80.70(Drawer sides, nailers, blocking)

3/4" Birch plywood - 5 sheets @ $52.50/sheet 262.50(Carcase sides, bottoms, dividers, shelves)

1/4" Birch plywood - 5 sheets @ $18.69/sheet 93.45(Carcase backs, drawer bottoms)

22" Accuride full extension drawer slides 148.50(11 pr. @ $13.50/pr)

18" Accuride full extension drawer slides 12.50(1 pr @ $12.50/pr)

Beveled glass (2 pieces) 100.00

Bin pulls (antique brass) - 16 @ $1.40 ea. 22.40

Knobs (antique brass) - 11 @ $1.10 ea. 12.10

Hinges (antique brass) - 12 pr @ $1.99/pr. 23.88

Miscellaneous hardware 30.00

Stain and Finish 60.00

TOTAL $1,341.03

NOTE: The costs shown do not include countertop.

The stock cabinets as priced do not come with knobs

and drawer pulls. Stock cabinet installation is avail-

able from most dealers at $30-$50 per linear foot.

My shop-built cabinets feature 3/8" inset, solid cherryraised panel doors with wide rails. These featuresweren’t available in stock cabinetry.

Poplarand MDF(painted)

Flat panelcherry

Curlymaple

Quartersawnwhite oak Walnut

STOCK CABINETS: OVERVIEWSo you could see the actual differencesbetween stock cabinets and our shop-built units, we bought two base cabi-nets and two wall-hung units built bya nationally-known manufacturer.

We had to order them through alocal home center — few distributorsactually carry an inventory of cabinets.Even with the current building andremodeling boom, it took just fourweeks for delivery.

These cabinets, pictured at right,were a basic straight frame-and-raisedpanel design that represented theupper middle price range. For addi-tional cost, we could have upgradedsome components (more decorativearched panels, plywood side panels,and heavier drawer slides).

At the bottom of the followingpages we’ll show construction detailsof these cabinets.


Toe kick

Face frame

Face frameCornerbrace

Nailer

Nailer

Nailer

Back

Back

Carcaseside

Carcaseside

Rail

Drawerrail

Rail

Stile

StileCenterstileDivider

WALL CABINET

BASE CABINET

CABINET STANDARDS EXPLAINEDIf you think about it, cabinets arereally furniture for the kitchen.Andlike most furniture, stock cabinetsare built to standard dimensions thatmake them comfortable to work at.

The primary dimensions for cab-inets are shown in the End Viewabove.The surface of a countertop istypically 36" high, ideal for mostkitchen tasks.

Standard depth for base cabinets(not including the countertop) is 24".If they’re deeper, it puts you fartheraway from the wall cabinets and lim-its how far up and out you can reach.

Base units also have a toe kickspace that’s 3" deep and 4" high.Thetoe kick lets you stand up close to thecabinets without bumping your toes.

Standard wall cabinet depth isusually 12" — just deep enough tohold most dinner plates. The heightcan range from 30" to 42", depend-ing on whether the room has a soffit.

There’s usually 18" of separationbetween the countertop surface andthe bottom of the wall cabinets.Thisputs the middle shelf in the uppercabinets at roughly 72" — a heightmost people can still reach withoutgetting a step stool.

Width for most stock cabinetsvaries from 12" to 48", in 3" incre-ments.The drawback here is that notevery wall space neatly fits this 3"scheme. My 12' 1½"-long wall, forexample, would have required me tobuy a filler strip and trim it to 1½"-wide to “extend” the stock cabinets.

SIZED TO FITThe beauty of building your owncabinets is that you’re not lockedinto these dimensions.They can stillserve as a guide, but you can varythem to fit your particular needs.

For example, you can varyheights and widths to easily workaround strange door and windowconfigurations. A shorter base cabi-net puts the counter at a height thatmakes kneading and rolling outdough easier for bakers.

While some manufacturers nowoffer “universal design” cabinets thataccommodate persons with physicaldisabilities (including those in wheel-chairs), you can really tailor yourshop-built cabinets to meet individ-ual needs. It’s all of those custom

ANATOMY OF A CABINET

3"

4"

24" 36"

26"

12"18"

30" - 42"

STANDARD CABINET DIMENSIONS(E N D V IEW)


2"

This base cabinet isbuilt as a single unit.

Continuous rail

Continuous rail

End stilesextend to floor

Continuous toe kick

Dishwasher

Cabinet butted againstwall without need for

filler strip.

2"16 "!/4

1 "!/2

touches that provide one of thegreatest incentives for buildinginstead of buying.

MAXIMIZE THE SPACEThe concept behind stock cabinetsis that manufacturers build a varietyof small, easy-to-handle units thatcan be combined to fit most any sit-uation.They’re easy to mass produceand sized so the cabinet companiescan get maximum usage from stan-dard sized sheet goods. And com-pact sizes (42" widths or less) areeasier to ship and store.

While this approach works wellfor the manufacturers, distributors,and installers, it winds up wastingspace. Especially in a small kitchenwhere space is extremely valuable,you don’t want to waste even a fewextra inches.

At first glance, the main sectionof cabinets in the two drawings onthis page look similar. Look closerand you’ll see that large base cabinetat the left (above) is a single unitcompared to the three separatestock cabinets (below).

By building one large unit, iteliminated the double stiles and gapsbetween the separate cabinets (seethe photo at right). I was able to usethis extra space to make drawersthat are 141/4" wide inside, com-pared to only 13" in the stock unit.

There’s another advantage aswell. It took less material — twoend panels, two dividers, and fourstiles vs. six end panels and six stileson the stock set. I also think thecontinuous rails and toekick, andthe single stiles give my cabinets amuch cleaner look.

Cabinets this largecan be hard to moveonce they’re assembled(that’s another reasonyou can’t buy a stockcabinet this size). But asyou’ll see on the nextpage, the parts can bemachined ahead oftime and easily assem-bled in the kitchen justprior to installation.

When you lay outyour cabinets, look forthe natural breaksbetween cabinet sections, such as gapsfor appliances. For example, Idesigned my base cabinets in two sec-tions, fitting them on either side ofthe dishwasher.The larger unit incor-porates the sink base, a drawer unitand a drawer-and-doors base.

3" 15" 3"

1 "!/2

Screws holdface frames

together.

CUSTOM CABINET LAYOUT

A single stile and a 3/4"-thickplywood divider panel sepa-rate compartments in thelarge base unit.

When you install stock base cabinets, youhave to shim the cabinets plumb and levelto the room and each other — a timeconsuming process. Once they’re lined up,the face frames are clamped together andlong screws driven to fasten the faceframes together.

You also wind up with a double-widestile (with a joint line) where two cabinetsmeet. It just doesn’t look as clean andconsistent as single width stiles.

STOCK CABINETS: MULTIPLE BOXES TAKE EXTRA SETUP


F

Carcaseside

Nailer

Notchfor

nailer

#/4"-wide dado," deep!/4

A

A

CD

E

Carcasebottom

Toe kick

Dividerpanel

Back

BF

30"

24"

23 "#/4Toe kick F3"

3" 3"

#/4"

4"

#/4"Bottom

Nailer

B

E

Carcaseside

A

DividerC

BUILDING THE BASESAt this point, you’ve seen some of thebasic considerations that went intomy kitchen design. Now it’s time toroll up the sleeves and get into theactual construction.

The first step is to build the baseunits.As you can see in the drawingsat right and on the next page, thebase units are simply big plywoodboxes with dividers and a face frameon the front.

I built the boxes (carcases) out ofbirch veneer plywood. I decidedagainst melamine or MDF core ply-wood because those materials losemuch of their strength once you cutthrough the outer skin/veneer.(They also produce some nasty dust.)

I used ¾" plywood for the car-case sides (A), the carcase bottom(B), and the divider panels (C).Theback (D) is ¼" plywood.

The nailer (E), usedfor mounting the cab-inet to the wall, is solidbirch. Since the toekick (F) is the onlyexposed portion of thecarcase, I made it fromsolid cherry.

One trick I learnedearly on was to performall similar machiningoperations together.That way, I didn’t wastetime switching toolsetups back and forth.For example, I cut allthe cabinet parts to sizefirst, then installed mydado blade and madeall the joinery cuts.

USE SIMPLE JOINERYJoinery in the carcases is simple butstrong.Dadoes are cut in the sides (A)to accept the bottom (B), and rabbetsare cut along the back edge of thesides for the back (D) as shown in thephotos at left and the drawing above.

The bottom is dadoed for thedivider panels (C) and grooved onthe lower face for the toe kick (F).Besides strength, these dadoes andgrooves help keep things lined upsquarely during assembly.

To fit the nailer (E) in place, Inotched the top corner of thedivider panels using a jigsaw. Screwshold the nailer to the divider panelsand the carcase sides.

The plywood back completesthe carcase and helps square up theentire assembly. I glued and clampedthe back to the nailer and nailed itto the sides, divider panels, and bot-tom using ¾"-long ringshank nails.The rings grab the wood so the nailswon’t loosen up over time.

So you could see the actual differencesbetween stock cabinets and our shop-built units, we ordered two base cabinetsand two wall-hung units.

When they arrived, the overall fitand finish was rough — doors anddrawers weren’t aligned, some drawerslide attachment screws were missing.

However, the carcase constructionwas a real disappointment. Before thecabinets were even removed from the

box, the lightweight pine nailer on oneof the base cabinets pulled off (see thephoto at right).The only things holdingthe nailer in place were a couple of smalldabs of hot-melt glue and two staplesdriven from the back side into a pair ofMDF braces. It would take little forcefor the cabinet to pull away from thewall with this design.

The carcase sides, bottom, back, andshelves were all vinyl-covered particle

board. The sides and bottom were both1/2"-thick and the back was 3/8"-thick.The bottom was set into dadoes cut inthe sides and hot-melt glued in place.

CABINET BASE CARCASE ASSEMBLY

The nailer fits between thecarcase sides and against theback. A brace adds support.

The bottom fits into a dadocut in the carcase side. Thetoe kick supports the bottom.

a.

STOCK CABINETS: CARCASE CONSTRUCTION


Pocket holescrews

Intermediatestiles

(2" wide)

End stile(2" wide)

Panelend cover

RailH

Rail(1 " wide)!/2

H

I

J

Corner braceK

G

End stileG

Drawer rail(1 " wide)!/2

Note: All face framepieces and cornerbraces are cut from

" thick hardwood.#/4

ADD THE FACE FRAMESFace frames dress up the front of thecabinet and add structural strength aswell. When building face frames inthe past, I’ve used dowels,biscuits, andeven mortises and tenons to join thehorizontal rails and vertical stiles.

The size of this project, however,was the perfect excuse to try out anew technique. I’d heard thatpocket hole joinery was a quick andaccurate way to assemble faceframes and this project proved it.

Looking at the completed cabi-nets, the stiles and rails all appear to bethe same width.The rails (H) are 1½"wide, but the doors overlap the inter-mediate stiles (I) on two sides, so Imade them 2" wide so the amountleft exposed was the same as the rails.

The end stiles (G) are left widerto cover the framed end panels thatget added later or to give you someextra for scribing to the wall.

One other added feature of myface frame design is that the endstiles extend down to the floor.Thisgives the base units a furniture lookwhile covering the carcase ends.

With the face frame parts cut towidth and length, the pocket holejig (shown at right) is used to drill acouple of angled holes on the backside of the rails (H). Then the endstiles (G) and rails, are lined up andclamped together.

Once everything’s positioned, twoscrews are driven across the joint (youdon’t even need glue).The interme-diate stiles (I) are then attached to the

rails the same way, followed by thedrawer rails (J).

Before installing the face frameon the carcase, I applied finish to theinside surfaces of the carcase andstain and one coat of finish to theface frame. It lets you get to bothsides of the face frame and eliminatesthe need for masking off the carcase.

The pocket hole screws came inhandy again when itwas time to attach theface frame to the car-case (Detail b).

Corner braces (K)complete the base cab-inet. These help stiffenthe carcase and providea way to fasten thecountertop to the base.

Like my cabinets, the face frames onthese cabinets were 3/4"-thick solidwood.And the stiles and rails were heldtogether with pocket hole screws.

Instead of mounting flush with thecarcase sides, the stock cabinets’ stileshad a shallow groove cut in the backside to accept the carcase sides (photoat near right). To hold the face framesto the carcase, the manufacturer usedhot-melt glue and triangular shaped

pneumatic fasteners.As you can see in the photo at the far

right, the grain patterns and even woodcolor used in the rails and stiles vary

greatly. While the faces were sandedsmooth, some of the rail and stile edgesstill showed saw marks from when theparts were ripped to width.

FACE FRAME ASSEMBLY

Pocket holescrews

Panelend cover

Carcase sideA

End stileG

RailH

b.

STOCK FACE FRAMES


L

Rail

Rail

Nailer

Nailer

Paneled endcover

StileBack

Side

IntermediatestileBottom

Top

Beveledglass

Stoppedcove

O

P

P

R

Q

Q

StileR

SM

N

1 "!/2

2 "#/8

Stile overlapspaneledend cover.

Paneledend cover

WALL CABINETCONSTRUCTIONThe basic constructionof the wall cabinets issimilar to the baseunits. The ¾"-thickplywood carcase sides(L) are dadoed for thebottom (M), and rab-beted for the top (N)and back (O).

The main differ-ence (besides the shal-lower depth) is theaddition of a secondnailer (P). While the

floor supports the load for base cab-inets, wall cabinets must supporttheir own weight plus the weight ofwhat you put in them.With mount-ing screws driven through the nail-ers and into the wall framing, thesecabinets are rock solid.

As mentioned earlier, thiskitchen didn’t have a soffit. So Iopted for 42"-tall cabinets thatextend to the ceiling. Seldom useditems go on the harder-to-reach topshelves. But at least when this stuff isstored inside the cabinets — insteadof on top of 30" or 36" cabinets —it doesn’t collect dust.

In a larger kitchen, I might haveconsidered using a mix of short andtall cabinets to provide display areasfor plants or collectibles and create avisual break.

The shelves in the upper cabinetsare ¾"-thick plywood with birchedgebanding (see photo at left). Tokeep things simple, I drilled a series ofevenly spaced (2" apart),¼"-dia.holesin the carcase sides for adjustable shelfsupport pins.To position these holesconsistently, I used a 2" × 30" strip ofpegboard as a drilling guide.

The face frames go together justlike those for the base cabinets —with pocket-hole joinery. The rails(Q) are drilled, then screwed to theend stiles (R).The intermediate stile(S) is screwed to the rails.

To keep the compartments wideopen, I let the doors butt together,eliminating the need for a dividerstile. This was also possible becausethe plywood shelves are strongenough to resist sagging. Many stockcabinets have extra shelf pins in thedivider stile to hold up the center ofthe shelves.

The exposed ends of the cabinetsreceive frame-and-panel covers, so Imade the corresponding stiles wideenough to overlap both the carcaseend and cover (Detail b). For addedinterest, I routed a 1/4" stopped covealong the length of the exposedstiles as shown above.

Construction and materials used onthe stock wall units were similar to thestock base units. The 1/2"-thick parti-cleboard top and bottom fit intodadoes cut in the 1/2"-thick particle-board sides.

The backs were mere 1/8"-thickpressboard and add little to the struc-tural integrity of the cabinets.The cab-inets had nailers (7/16"-thick pine) at thetop and bottom as well as a 1/2"-thick

plywood brace across the center of theback. But that’s not much to supportthe cabinets when they’re fully loadedwith china.

The face frames were joined withpocket hole screws, but held to thecarcase with those triangular-shapedpneumatic fasteners.While the shelveswere a full 3/4"-thick, they were justvinyl-covered particleboard and wereheld in place with plastic shelf pins.

WALL CABINET ASSEMBLY

b.

Adjustable,edgebanded ply-wood shelveswill supportheavy loadswithout sagging.

42"

4 "#/8

3 "!/2

3"1 "#/411 "#/4

!/2 #/4" rabbet, " deep

Glass End Panel(left end)

Right End Panela.

STOCK CABINETS: WALL UNIT CONSTRUCTION

T O P V IEW


Paneledend cover

Scribedto fit

countertop

Scribe stileto fit wall

Fascia

Cleat

Bottom panel

Runners

T

U

W

V

VALANCE ASSEMBLY

PANTRY ASSEMBLY

20"

Holes for puck lights

Fascia

Runner

Runner Cleat

Bottom panel

T

U

V

W

WT

V WW

U

8"

20”

60”

3” 1#/4”

2"

!/4#/8

" dia. X" deep

1!/2"

c. d.

e.

%/8" wirebrad

Beveled glass

!/4" !/4"xglass stop

CREATING CUSTOM DETAILSMost of the custom features I addedto the wall cabinets came aboutbecause I couldn’t find anythingsimilar in stock cabinets. For exam-ple, I could buy a cabinet with aglass door, but couldn’t find onewith a glass end panel.

So, I created a display cabinet bybuilding a paneled end cover frameand installed glass instead of thewood panel — Glass InstallationDetail. Unlike the other cabinets, thisframe is part of the carcase. So once Iassembled the frame, I cut a dado andrabbets in the inside face to acceptthe carcase top, bottom and back.

You’ll notice in Detail a that therear stile is wider than the front oneand that the rabbet is cut deeperthan the ¼"-thick back. That extrastrip allows you to easily scribe thecabinet to the wall.

I considered building some shal-low cabinets to go above the win-dow, but decided lights shining onthe sink below were more impor-tant than the small amount of stor-age space to be gained. The simplevalance shown above bridges thewindow and connects the twobanks of cabinets.

The arched fascia (T) attaches tothe 3/4" plywood bottom panel (U)and runner (W).Two cleats (V) attachto the cabinets to provide a mountingsurface for the bottom (Detail c).

The bottom panel holds twoxenon “puck” lights (see page 13)and hides the wiring and ceiling.Once the wall cabinets wereinstalled, I added matching surface-mounted pucks on the cabinets’underside to brighten up the coun-tertop work areas.

The tall pantry cabinet, to the farright above and detailed in thedrawings below, was another extra Iadded. For starters, it’s 20" deep and

that extra depth easily holds cerealboxes and food containers too largeto fit in regular 12"-deep cabinets.

It also runs from the counter toceiling (60"). The only way to getthat height in stock cabinets was tostack a 42"-cabinet on top of an18"-high drawer unit.

As you’ll see on page 13, thiscabinet also contains a built-in cut-ting board and knife rack in thepullout drawer.

T O P V IEW

GLASS INSTALLATION DETAIL

E N D V IEW


X

XY

Y

Z

3!/2”2!/2”

Rail

Rail

Stub tenon Panel

Stile

Stile

#/8” lip

PanelField

STREAMLINE THE DOORSAll the stock cabinets I looked at hadoverlay doors. The doors aren’t setinto the face frame, but lay com-pletely on top of it.That ¾" thicknesssticking out always looks a littleclunky to me.

That’s why I decided to use 3/8"inset (sometimes called partial over-lay) doors and drawer fronts on mycabinets (see drawings above). Theyhave a 3/8"-thick lip that overlaps theface frame while the rest of the door’sthickness is inset into the opening.

I also wanted raised panel doors.In the past, I’ve cut raised panels onmy table saw, but even a sharp bladecan leave saw marks and burns, espe-cially in cherry. So I invested in araised panel router bit.

The bit cut smoothly, eliminatingmost of the sanding.The bit profile Ichose cut a flat bevel (Detail a).

MAKING THE FRAMESTo keep the doors simple, I used stubtenon and groove joinery on the stiles(X) and rails (Y) as shown in the DoorAssembly View.To fit the panel (Z) tothe frame and get it positioned prop-erly, I made a number of test pieces.

With the panel field cut 1/16" high,I had to cut a shallow rabbet on theback edge of the panel so it would fitin the ¼"-wide grooves (Detail a).You’ll also notice that the grooves(and tenons) are shifted slightly offcenter so the front face of the panelwon’t protrude too far beyond thesurface of the frame.

SIZING THE DOORS AND PANELSBefore you start cutting, it pays towork out all the door and panel sizeson paper. Start by measuring theopenings in the face frame.As a gen-eral rule, doors should be at leasttwice as tall as they are wide. Thismakes it easy to know if an openingneeds one or two doors.

To account for the lips and hingesand have some room for adjustment,I added ½" to both the width andheight of the opening.

For example, the opening on thepantry cabinet measured 24" wide ×501/8" high. The total width for thetwo doors was 24½", so I made eachdoor 12¼" wide × 505/8" high.

With the door sizes set, the raillength and panel width can be calcu-lated.The stiles are 2½" wide, so thedoor width minus 5" gives you thesize of the opening inside the frame.

But you have to add 5/8" to thatdistance to account for the two 5/16"grooves for the tenons and panel. Sofor the 12¼"-wide pantry doors, the

Many stock cabinets come with copeand stick construction on the doors (seethe photo at left). Instead of a plain stubtenon, the ends of the rails are coped tomatch the profile on the inside edge ofthe stiles. This joint usually requires apair of matched router bits or shapercutters and creates a strong joint.

To visually reduce how the full over-lay doors stick out from the face frame,a profile is cut around the outer face of

the door frame. A vinyl bumper inserton the back of the frame cushions thedoor when it closes — a nice touch.

The panels on the stock cabinets webought were solid wood, but like theface and door frames, the grain patternsvaried widely.

On the cabinets with doors that butttogether, the gap between the doorswasn’t uniform, but could be adjustedeasily by fine-tuning the hinges.

STOCK CABINETS: COPE AND STICK DOORS

#/8”

!/16”

#/4”

!/4”

!/4” %/16” %/16”

!/16”

2!/2”

StileNote: No rabbet on stiles where two doors meet.

StilePanel

a.

DOOR ASSEMBLY

SECTION V IEW


!/4" plywood bottom

Drawer box side( " birch)!/2

Drawer box sideDrawerbox back

Full extensiondrawer slide

AA

BB

BB

CC

DDFalse front

(#/4" cherry)

Attach falsedrawer front with

#6 x 1" wood screws.

AA

Drawer front( " birch)!/2

rails would be 77/8" long (12¼" -(2½" + 2½") + (5/16" + 5/16").

To allow for some cross-grainexpansion, I made the panels 1/8"narrower than the length of the rails.

To determine panel height, sub-tract the total width of the two rails(7") from the door height. (The railsare wider — 3½" — than the stiles.)Then add back in the 5/8" for the twogrooves to get total height. Sincepanels will expand a little lengthwise,subtract 1/16" from this total.

Once all the dimensions werenailed down, I cut to size and labeledthe panels, rails, and stiles for eachdoor. Using the test pieces I madeearlier as a setup guide, I machinedthe grooves in all the rails and stiles.

With the grooves cut, I cut the“deeper” face of all the stub tenons,then lowered the blade and cut theother, shallower face. Then I routedthe the profile in all of the panels.

Next, I dry-fit the frames aroundthe panels. Only the rails and stilesget glued together — the panels

should “float” in the frames. Butbefore gluing the doors up, I appliedstain to the panels.This ensures uni-form color across the entire panel,even if it shifts slightly in the frame.

With the doors assembled, youcan cut the rabbets that create the lip(Detail a). But don’t rabbet the doorstiles where two doors will meet.

DOVETAIL DRAWERSOne stock cabinet feature I copiedwas half-blind dovetail joinery for thedrawers (see the Drawer AssemblyView). A dovetail joint’s interlockingpins can stand up to the strong forcesexerted when a drawer is yankedopen or slammed shut.

You might think it took a longtime to cut dovetails for 12 drawers.

But once I got my dovetail jigadjusted, the actual cutting wentquickly.

All the drawers in each bank areidentical in size except for height.Even the ¼" plywood bottom panels(CC) are the same.

ADD FALSE FRONTSFalse drawer fronts (DD) simplify thedrawer installation. They let youinstall the drawer slides and box first,then position each front so it lines upproperly on the face frame opening.

Like the doors, the drawer frontsare lipped for a 3/8" inset, as shownin Detail b. And you size the falsefronts the same way as the doors,adding 1/2" to the opening’s size.

The drawers in the stock cabinets webought had dovetail joints and wereequipped with full extension under-mount-style slides.The drawer portionmounted to the underside of the drawerso the slide was hidden (although youlose a little bit of drawer height).

Plastic catches (top right photo) onthe underside of the drawer, clippedonto the slides and allow slight adjust-ments in the position of the drawer.

The slides operated fairly smoothly andhad a positive, self-closing feature.

The hinges (pictured lower right)were a Euro-style cup hinge designedfor face-frame cabinets. One nice fea-ture is that they allow minor adjust-ments to the door position — both upand down and side to side. Because ofthe overlay style of door, these hingeswere hidden from view when thedoors were closed.

The drawer boxes feature1/2" birch sides joined atthe front and back withhalf-blind dovetails

#/8" inset false front

Full extension drawer slide

Drawer boxDrawer slide

mounting cleats

b.

DRAWER ASSEMBLY

STOCK CABINETS: DRAWERS, HARDWARE


#/4"-thicklaminated maplecutting board

#/8" inset false front

Rubber feet

!/8"-deep,!/16"-wide saw kerf (cut with a thin-kerf blade)

!/4" Hardboard cleat

24!/2"

!/8"-deep,!/16"-wide saw kerf.

False front

5"Drawer slidemounting cleats

Cutting board

False drawer front

Hardboard cleats

2 "%/8

!/4" plywood bottom

Tray side( " birch)!/2

Tray front/back( " birch)!/2

Note: Tray width equals door opening,less allowance for drawer slides.

Full-extensiondrawer slide

MOUNTING THE SLIDESThe side-mounted drawer slidesused throughout the cabinets need tobe mounted flush with opening inthe face frame. To do this I firstscrewed mounting cleats at the frontand back of the cabinet on both sidesof the drawer openings (Detail a).These cleats, made from 2x4 stock,were planed down until they fit flushwith the face frame.The cabinet partof the slide fastened to these cleats.

LOOK FOR THE EXTRASNow that you’ve seen how the basicboxes go together and also some ofthe more dramatic features, it’s timeto take a look at some extra featuresthat aren’t as obvious.

One feature I’m proud of is thedrawer built into the pantry cabinet.Designed to look like a pair of draw-ers to echo the twin doors above it,the one large drawer holds a cuttingboard and knife rack (Cutting BoardDrawer Assembly and Detail b).

The laminated maple cuttingboard rests on ¼"-thick hardwoodcleats fit into the front and backpanels (Detail a). The cutting boardhas rubber feet and is designed withbuilt-in handholds to lift out foruse. But if counter space is limited,you could use the cutting boardwhile it’s in the drawer.

The great thing about this draweris that it got an old free-standingknife-block off the countertop, yet

the knives are still handy.At 18" deepand 23" wide, the drawer easily holdsa flat knife rack with space left forstoring small cutting boards or otherknife accessories. (The knife rack wasfeatured in the January/February2000 issue of Workbench.)

TRAYS REPLACE SHELVESAnother hidden feature is tuckedaway behind the doors in the basecabinets. Instead of fixed shelves orones that rest on adjustable shelf pins,the base cabinets feature pull-outtrays, as shown at left below.

Like the drawers, these shallowtrays ride on full extension slides.They make it easy to organize andaccess pots, pans, and storage contain-ers that normally get stacked haphaz-ardly in fixed-shelf cabinets.

Such trays are available as anoption in stock cabinetry. (It cost anextra $54 to add four small pullouttrays to the standard 36" wide baseunit pictured back on page 3.)

To get wide-open access to thespace, I designed my base cabinetswith two wide trays that spanned thefull door opening.The plywood car-case is rigid enough that a center stilebetween the doors wasn’t necessary.

CUTTING BOARD DRAWER ASSEMBLY

b.a.

The cutting board is inset intothe drawer and serves as acover for the knife rack.


CHOOSE CUSTOM HARDWAREOne way to put your own touch onthe cabinets is with hardware. Sincethe drawer slides and hinges are tiedto the cabinets’ design, it’s best to getthem early in the planning process.But the knobs and pulls can wait untilyou’ve got the cabinets built.

The stock cabinets I priced didnot come with door knobs or drawerpulls — these were available as anoption in a limited number of styles.

On 3/8" inset doors and drawerfronts, pulls and knobs are a necessity.But you can choose from hundreds ofstock or special order styles availableat home centers or from mail ordercatalogs.

Hardware customization doesn’thave to stop with knobs and pulls.Many of the special bins, racks, andturntables offered as options by cabi-net manufacturers are available frommail order catalogs such asWoodworker’s Supply (800–645-9292) and Rockler Woodworkingand Hardware (800–279-4441).

FINAL TOUCHESAs mentioned earlier, I also added low-voltage puck lighting to the valance,shown in the photo right,and under thecabinets to light the countertop workareas. I chose xenon lights because theyburn brighter than halogen bulbs andproduce less heat. The three-light kit,order no. 73549 - $99.99, is fromRockler.

The finishing touch was the additionof a 2" cove molding along the top ofthe wall cabinets. It dresses up the cabi-nets, but more importantly it helps hideany gaps between the cabinets and ceil-ing.Since I couldn’t find a cove moldingthis size in cherry,I stained a birch mold-ing to match the cabinets.

Finish on the cabinets is a stain cov-ered with three coats of polyurethane.Toget the look of aged cherry,I used a mix-ture of three parts Zar cherry stain withone part Wood-Kote Cherry Jel’d Stain.The latter gel stain minimizes blotchingthat sometimes occurs with cherry.

Building your own kitchen cabi-nets is a big job — probably the

largest woodworking project you’ll evertake on. But the quality that you canbuild into them and the daily use they’llget makes it one of the most worth-while projects I can think of toimporove your home.

Puck-style xenon lights and covemolding add finishing touches.


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